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The first recipe I made out of it was his Cranzac cookies -- they are a riff on anzac cookies, with Lyle's golden syrup, cranberries, coconut, and oats. While they sounded great in principle, in actuality I found them very one-dimensional and overly sweet. Not a fan at all...

Emily

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His Fresh Ginger Cake kicks serious heinie. I have made it at least half a dozen times. I am the only one who likes it in my house, so I get the whole thing to myself. Not really, I take half in to work where it's gone in no time.

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Bricktop is right; the Fresh Ginger Cake is seriously good. I actually find myself craving it. I had one guest spontaneously exclaim that this was the best cake she'd ever had. It is an adult cake, definitely not shy on flavour. I can't imagine that kids would find it palatable though.

I've also made the Buckwheat Cake (minus the poached apples). It's a simple, homely cake - in a good way. I liked it best for breakfast with a mug of milky black tea. When fresh, I'd call its taste subtle. As it aged the flavour bloomed and I actually found it to be at its best in the third day after baking, just as we finished it off. Be warned; as DL says, the batter is VERY thick. I had a hard time imagining that it would have any rise, but it did.

The Very Spicy Baked Pears with Caramel was richly flavourful. It was hard not to lick the pan, it was that good. I'm not sure that the "very" in the title is warranted. I can't imagine even the most spice averse would find it unpalatable. It's a fantastic fall/winter dessert that I know I'll repeat again and again.

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Delicious book. My favourite so far is the Bahamian Rum Cake (p. 68). Soft, buttery and moist with all the rum-licious. Make sure you make the glaze and use dark sugar for that, it really adds another level. Only problem is there doesn't seem to be any left after 3 days around the house, which is a shame as it just gets better with time.

Also made the Marjolaine (p. 28) twice. Looks and tastes stunning, and easier to make compared to other versions I have. On the first go I felt all that creme fraiche was making the cake too tangy so replaced it with the usual heavy cream in the chocolate ganache. I think that improved it.

The Irish Coffee cupcakes (p 38) glazed in chocolate with the hidden surprise were very good. The Guiness-Gingerbread (p. 36) cupcakes were interesting and looked amazing, but like the ale not to everyone's tastes.

The only one I didn't particularly like was the Banana Cake with Mocha frosting (p. 62). The taste of the ripe banana puree (2 cups, quite a lot) did not go at all with the rest of the cake, esp the frosting. Maybe the bananas were too ripe or the chocolate (Cacao Barry Excellence 55%) wasn't the best match, not sure.

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So far I've only made the Racines cakes. It's a flourless chocolate cake (with espresso and vanilla bean extract) that is sprinkled with cocoa nibs. It was a great ending to our Christmas meal this year and enjoyed by all. I served it with his Armagnac and prune ice cream (from The Perfect Scoop).

I like the fact that the cake was intensely flavored while extremely light. I highly recommend it if you like chocolate.

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Glad you're all working your way through Ready for Dessert. The recipes are all my favorites and some I've been making for decades, literally. If you make the chocolate chip cookies, be sure to use all the chocolate bits (and dust) when you chop the chocolate; they contribute to the cookies being nice and chewy.

And the frosting on the Banana Cake should come to room temperature so it's thick enough to spread as frosting on the cake. Somehow the line about letting it sit mysteriously got omitted during printing, but is being added back for the upcoming next printing. Hopefully it's evident to bakers to let it cool down so it resembles the cake, as shown in the book.

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It looks like a great book. It is now on my ever growing wish list on Amazon. I am actually quite surprised how much of the book is available through their preview option. Naturally, the ginger cake is not available for preview. the banana cake is and that looks stunning.

I am wondering what others think about the book containing volume and metric measurements, but not imperial measurements.

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Hard to find an easier recipe though with only 4 ingredients and 3 steps. But apparently my springform pan needs to be immediately replaced. Despite using aluminum foil to prevent potential leaks during cooking (bain marie-style), when I uncovered the cake at the end of the cooking time, its top was partially hydrolyzed. Unfortunately there was no way to salvage it so it ended in the trash. It did smell absolutely amazing though, and the texture seemed perfect inside, so I guess I need to find a better pan and try again soon.

It's great to see David on this thread by the way. I love the sense of humor in his books.

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Yes, you need to make sure that springform is water tight. No matter how much you think it may be, water finds its insidious way into those things. Although we can't get it in France (at least not that I know of) in the US there is very wide foil that's nice and thick that should work.

Incidentally, someone did bake the cake without the water bath and said it worked just fine, but I haven't tried it.

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Hi Dan: It's not only very difficult to get publishers in America to publish books in anything other than cups and tablespoons, but readers are reluctant to buy books with metrics (and imperial) measurements in them because "the recipes too complicated."

Because I live outside of the states, I added metrics. It actually took quite a while to reconfigure all the recipes but I really wanted them in there. But I know quite a few other authors that wanted to add other measurements to their cookbooks and got nixed by the publishers. Thankfully mine is very open to what I do.

There is going to be a UK edition of the book sometime in 2011 but for those interested in various measurements, folks can let publishers know that's what you'd like to see in a book (and just as importantly, buy the ones that do!) by writing a letter or an e-mail, and perhaps they will consider adding them to more cookbooks.

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I am wondering what others think about the book containing volume and metric measurements, but not imperial measurements

Personally, I am happy to get any type of weight measurement in a baking book. Since anyone who is going to appreciate weight measures already has a scale, I'm pretty sure just about any electronic scale can easily be switched to metric. I actually prefer metric - maybe there are some people who are uncomfortable using it? (No, I did not grow up in Europe).

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Metric weight measurements are also important for me because 1) that's how I learned to bake, 2) weights are much more accurate than volume and accuracy is important in baking, 3) scaling down/up recipes is much easier with the metric system, and 4) less stuff to clean when you weigh directly into mixing bowls.

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I am happy to report that my second attempt at the Idiot/Orbit cake was a great success.

Since I did not have time to look for a new springform pan, I decided to use a low temperature for baking and ended up skipping the water bath altogether. I have a pretty good oven and this technique has worked well for me in the past when baking custards.

I ended up baking the cake at 212F for about 1.5 hours, and then another 30 min at 230F. The cake was wonderful. My husband said it was "a sort of lava cake on steroids".

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I'm not a fan of asking people to get obscure ingredients but those nibs really do make the cake special. It's great that cocoa nibs are pretty available from many chocolate companies and like Brainfoodie mentioned, you can buy them in bulk (at G. Detou in Paris, they sell Valrhona ones for around €13,kg) and you can also split them amongst baking pals.

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I've been on a buckwheat kick lately. It was chandeleur last week (aka crepe day!) and I made galettes bretonnes (savory crepes with buckwheat). I had some buckwheat flour leftover, so I made the Buckwheat Cake from Ready for Dessert last night and am enjoying a slice this morning with my cappuccino.

What a delightful cake. It is very unassuming but the mix of buckwheat and almonds is fantastic. The almonds really enhance the buckwheat flavor. Even though the batter seemed a little dense, and I managed to forget the baking powder and added it at the very last minute, the cake turned out very light and delicious. I imagine that it's a good recipe if you are gluten-intolerant as it does not contain any flour.

I took one shortcut and used almond meal since I had some already, instead of grinding sliced almonds.

We had it last night with Cara Cara orange supremes. It's great. I want to try it next with the Tangerine Butterscotch sauce that is recommended in the book.

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I've continued my exploration of the flourless chocolate cakes in Ready for Dessert with the Gâteau Victoire. Five ingredients for this one - chocolate of course, heavy cream, rum, eggs, and sugar (no butter except what is needed to butter the pan). I decided to skip the bain-marie again and cooked at low temperature (212F) until the batter set, which took about 2 hours.

The texture of the cake was similar to a light ganache, very rich and creamy. Another great recipe!

Because of its soft texture it's a little hard to cut with a knife. The books recommended to slice the cake with dental floss which was a great tip.

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While I do not yet own the book, I did make the Racines cake a few days back. We loved it, despite the fact that it cracked. The instructions I found did not include a bain-marie. I should have known better, but it was just the two of us, so it didn't much matter. It was my first time baking with cocoa nibs. I had no idea how nutty they would taste! I had a half pound of Valrhona nibs sitting in my freezer from my last Chocosphere order, and finally got to use them. I also used Guittard 61% couverture discs. Served with freshly whipped cream for me, and homemade low-sugar vanilla ice cream for my husband, it was a homerun on a number of levels: gluten-free (for me), and low sugar (for my husband), easily made with few ingredients that I always have on hand, and delicious. Thanks, David!

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Similar Content

I’m trying to find a recipe to make caramel suitable for varegating or swirling into Ice cream when the ice cream is loaded out of the ice cream maker to the ice cream storage container. When swirled at this stage it crams a nice caramel swirl when dipping.
I have made several attempts, first attempt tasted great but got stringy and difficult to cut with a spoon. If you wanted to you could pull it out like a Spiders web. A typical caramel sauce will just disappear into the ice cream and seems to break down into the ice cream. Another attempt it got very sandy when cold and had to be hot to be dispensed into the ice cream, causing the base to melt away.
Most useable commercial products seem to be heavy with corn syrup. I have tried that without success. Somehow I think that might be the key since the ingredient list for commercial caramel Variegate has it as the first ingredient and sweetened condensed milk the second item.

Appreciate any recipes or formulas for a Variegating caramel creme ripple you might be able to offer or your suggestions.

A mistake was made with my Albert Uster order this week and I received it twice. Since it's shipped from CA, doesn't go bad, and I'll use it eventually, I'm not going to mess with trying to return the second delivery. But now I have a huge amount of inventory so I thought I'd see if anyone here was looking for Felchlin by the bag.

Each bag is 2kg (4# 7oz) in the following varieties and prices:

Maracaibo Creole 49%, $48
Sao Palme 60%, $30
Arriba 72%, $46

As for shipping, I can fit 2 bags in a medium flat rate box for $14 or 3 bags in a large box for $19 to go anywhere in the USA.

If you'd like some, PM me with your selection, email, and shipping address. I'll invoice you via Square and you can pay securely online with a credit card.

Heat oven to 425F.
In a large bowl, mix the first four ingredients. In a small bowl, mix the flour and sugar together. Sprinkle the flour/sugar mixture over the large bowl, mixing lightly with fingers. Place first pie crust
into pie pan, pricking with a fork. Pour the fruit mixture into the pie shell. Dot with the margarine or butter, then cover with second pie crust, crimping
edges together and making sure top crust is vented.

Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then turn down oven to 350F for about 45 minutes.

I dont believe that any English translation of Carêmes works exist. An incomplete version was published in 1842 (I think) but even the that version seems lackluster for the few recipes it does cover. I think it's time the world looks to its past, but I don't speak great French and it's a huge task to undertake. I hopefully plan on publishing this work and anyone who helps me will get a very fair cut, and if we decide not to publish it, I'll put it out on the internet for free. I'm working in Google docs so we can collaborate. I'm first cataloging the index to cross reference the pre-existing incomplete English version to give us a reference of what yet needs to be done, and from there we will go down the list of recipies and Translate them one by one. Simple google translate goes only so far, as it is 1700s French culinary terms and phrases being used. I'd like to preserve as much of Carêmes beautiful and flowery language as possible. Who's with me?

So I'm not sure whether you remember it or not but a few month ago I posted a new thread here because I was slightly scared with an upcoming internship.

Now I am actually an intern at Pierre Hermé and I thought you'd like to have some update.

Thanks for all the amazing feedback you guys provided!!!

Love

- fanny

First week: Ispahan, Emotions, Sensations & baked treats

Just one week after I arrived from New Zealand I'm already off to Paris for the long awaited internship at Pierre Hermé.

After waking up at 4.30, I head towards the 15° arrondissement shop, enter the apparently empty shop sur la pointe des pieds. Where is everyone? Luckily I quickly stumble onto Sebastien, the morning team head chef, who gives me the locker keys. I can finally go downstairs and get changed.

Hmmmmm the pâtissier outfit! While I was over-excited when I bought it because it represented the first step towards my dream, this outfit is anything but dreamy. Think oversized jacket, high-waist pied-de-poule pants and Pierre Hermé baseball cap; the most fashionable item being the shoes – white sabots.

Honestly, who could look good wearing that? Well ok, some girls do but I don’t. And just in case I still had some hopes, one of the guys said 'oh mais fanny vous etes beaucoup plus belle comme ca, vraiment' [fanny you look way better with these clothes on] when he saw me leaving the building wearing my normal everyday clothes. He looked shocked, trust me!

Once this first step is checked and I've understood how pointless it is to look at myself in the mirror, I can actually go upstairs and meet the chefs. Before that, I have to put an apron – well two actually: a cotton one and a plastic one; but this is only an anticipatory action as I know I tend to get quite dirty (and this is a total euphemism) when I cook.

Then I arrive in the laboratoire, wash my hands and shake everyone's hands. At this point, I am completely lost. Who is who? Hmmm names, so many different names. Luckily, I'm quite good with names so after a few minutes I am familiar with everyone just like we've known each others for years. That's totally not true though, and the use of vous is here to remind it.

Indeed saying vous instead of tu is like the first basic rule in the pastry shop survival guide.

The second one being to say chaud [litteraly: hot] whenever you're carrying something (usually really heavy) and not necessarily hot, as the term suggests, and you don't want anyone to get in the way. Basically, chefs say chaud not to be gross and say 'dégage' although the meanings of both words are really close. Once this rule is mastered, you have to start applying it. And believe me it feels quite weird to yell chaud every other minute. Though, it appears to be quite useful because you don't want to spill 118°C sugar syrup on your boss, do you? Well some of you might - sometimes, but please before doing so you should strongly consider a career change and/or an escape from your country, a face makeover and a name change.

By now it's just after 6am and I am awake (holly jetlag). Like not just awake – I am widely concentrated on everyone's moves and there are many many moves. In the morning team, everyone is here to produce all the cakes, entremets, emotions, yeasty treats... with the most dedicated passion.

The variety of tasks makes for the most interesting job. While every member of the team is responsible of a specific area, I wander from poste to poste to help the chef do the tasks they can't do because of their super-extra-busy schedules.

Thus in one week I got to do many different things: from sorting almonds to prepare candied lemon peels.

I started by weighing the ingredients for the crème onctueuse au chocolat. This was straightforward and was the perfect task to give me confidence on the first day.

However, I was quite – and happily – surprised when the manager told me to go with Simon to decorate the Ispahan entremets.

The Ispahan entremets are definitely one of the it-pastries at Pierre Hermé, so I was really excited to know that I was about to decorate them.

This part was overwhelming – first I had to arrange raspberries on the rose-flavoured buttercream, fill with chopped and fragrant litchis, and then decorate the top macaron by piping a drop of glucose on rose petals and then sticking them, along with some raspberries, on the macaron.

Assembling the Emotions was also a great job. Emotions are Pierre Hermé's signature desserts presented in glasses and eaten with a spoon - well unless you like to lick your fingers!

These are entertaining to make (basically I piped a fixed quantity of jelly with a piston into glasses - see Sensations below for more details) and are really yummy. I must say I have a weak spot for the passion fruit guimauves, even though it was a really-teeny (don't want to sound like I'm complaining because I am not) pain when I had to separate hundreds of them and roll them in icing sugar.

As you might imagine I was happy to get to make so many different things and I was really proud when they actually let me make a whole batch of Sensation Celeste. Sensations are glasses filled with different jellies and generally topped with a macaron.

First, I had to make the rhubarb compote: gelatine, rhubarb purée, lemon juice and sugar, pour a fixed quantity of it into small glasses with a piston, and allow to set before doing the same with both strawberry and passion fruit jellies.

On the same note, I also piped some banana and strawberry jelly into small round shapes for the entremet Désiré, which is totally delicious by the say.

However, I couldn't do just what I had to and couldn't restrain myself from peeking here and there. Anna, who I didn't really get to work with, is responsible for all the treats that have to go through the oven step. Hence, she makes all the brioches, croissants and other yeasty treats. But she also makes the cannelés and millefeuilles.

The cannelés are probably the best ones I've ever had: fresh, soft and fragrant.

As for the millefeuille I picked a Mosaic millefeuille because I love the pistachio-cherry combination. This was a real winner: the slight tanginess of the griottes nicely balances the creaminess of the pistachio cream. I can't wait to work in the dough team because their feuilletage is excellent! Hopefully in two weeks...